Spinning top



July s, 1958 BQLLEIS 2,841,920

SPINNING TOP Filed Feb. 17, 1956 35 FIG. 1

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United States Patent SPINNING TOP Peter Balleis, Altenberg, near Nurnberg, Germany Application February 17, 1956, Serial No. 566,294 Claims priority, application Germany September 5, 1955 2 Claims. (Cl. 46-49) The present invention relates to musical spinning tops.

Prior to this invention, musical tops of various designs have been known in which the spinning of the top produces a succession of different musical sounds or even a short melody. There have also been other tops in which, by the simultaneous rotation of a plurality of colored disks relative to each other, continuous and periodic changes of color were produced with the primary colors blending with each other into various color combinations.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new toy which combines the functions of the two differenttypes of spinning tops as mentioned above and thus enchants and entertains children, as well as grownups both optically as well as acoustically by its continuously changing color combinations and simultaneously by its pleasing organlike tones, chords, or a recurring melody.

It is another object of the invention to provide a new toy which by very simple and inexpensive means combines two different toys into one, thus producing an article which is hardly more expensive than either of the two known types, but possesses advantages which are not obtained by either of them, among them its greater entertaining values, more pleasing design, and higher sales value.

These and other objects of the invention may be obtained by the provision of a spinning top of substantially bell-shaped design which is adapted to spin around a stationary axis and consists of a wide lower part which contains the color or color-changing unit, a narrower upper part Which contains the musical unit, and an intermediate, substantially bell-shaped part of transparent, partly transparent, or translucent material which combines and connects the upper and lower parts, contributes to the function of these parts and adds additional functions and effects thereto which are novel by themselves. All of these functions and effects, and the means for producing the same are combined in a new manner so as to attain a unitary toy article which is superior to any similar toy of previous design.

According to the present invention, both the color unit and the musical unit, although mounted in opposite parts of the top, are driven by the same gear mechanism, namely, a planetary gear system which is rotatablymounted on a part of the housing of the spinning top and revolves about a stationary pinion which is mounted on a central stationary shaft which supports the entire top and around which the top is adapted to spin. The upper end of this shaft rotatahly supports a hollow shaft, in which a twisted or screwlike driving rod is mounted in the usual manner so as to reciprocate therein in a vertical direction. This driving rod or driving screw is connected by a suitable clutch mechanism to the tube so that a downward-pumping movement of the rod will be converted into a one-way rotary motion to rotate the entire top about a central stationary axis. This central hollow shaft serves two additional purposes, namely, as a conmeeting rod between the speed reduction gear and the musical unit for driving the element which separates the series of musical tones which would ordinarily be produced by such unit simultaneously into a sequence of tones or a short melody. The other purpose of the hollow shaft is to serve as a mounting element on which ne or more fan blades are secured which are thus rotated within the transparent part of the toy, at the same speed as the hollow shaft and which serve to produce a strong air suction to operate the musical unit of the toy.

Another feature of the invention consists in the simple and inexpensive manner of producing these fan blades and of mounting the same on the hollow shaft. They preferably consist of a single sheet of transparent plastic or similar material which, in order to attain the greatest possible suction effect, are preferably cut to a shape closely resembling the cross-sectional area of the transparent housing underneath the musical unit. Such transparent sheet may, according to the invention be simply and firmly mounted on the hollow shaft by the more provision of at least two apertures which are cut into such sheet Within the vertical center line thereof, and by then threading the hollow shaft through these apertures. Due to the resiliency and tendency of the plastic material to remain straight, it will thus exert a firm clamping action upon the shaft. The firmness of the mounting of the fan blades on the shaft may be further enhanced by providing flat surfaces on the shaft which will prevent the fan blades from turning relative to the shaft. For this purpose, the outer surfaces of the hollow shaft are preferably made polygonal. Although these fan blades should be chiefly transparent so as to permit a clear view of the color unit of the toy, they may also serve to contribute to the elfect of the color unit. For this purpose, they may themselves be partly colored or be given a transparent hue of color or combination of colors.

Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof, as well as from the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a side view of the new spinning top according to the invention, in which the essential elements thereof are disclosed in a vertical sectionywhile Fig. 2 shows a cross section on a reduced scale taken along line lI--II of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the spinning top according to the invention comprises a hollow body 1 which consists of an upper bell-shaped housing 2 of transparent or partly transparent material, a lower bowl-shaped housing 3 of opaque material, and a substantially fiat intermediate bottom 33. The three parts 2, 3, and 33 are flanged together or otherwise secured to each other at their outer edge 4. The entire body 1 is centrally mounted on a stationary cylindrical shaft 5, the lower end of which is secured in a base 6 which preferably consists of rubber or a resilient plastic and may have a concave bottom surface so as to exert a slight suction upon a flat table top upon which the toy may be placed to retain it in a fixed position during its spinning operation. Shaft 5 passes loosely through a central aperture in the bowlshaped bottom 3 and is rotatably mounted within a frame or housing 11 which is secured to the intermediate bottom 33. Within such frame 11, shaft 5 carries a pinion 8 which is secured thereto so as to form the stationary sun gear a planetary gear system which serves as a speed reduction gear. This gear system includes a pair of shafts 9 and 10 which are likewise rotatably mounted within frame 11 on opposite sides of shaft 5. Shaft 9 has fixedly secured thereto a gear 12 which is in mesh with pinion 8, as well as a pinion 13 which engages with a gear 14. This gear 14 has a pinion 15 secured thereto,

3. and both of them together are freely rottable on the stationary shaft 5. Pinion 15, in turn, is in mesh with a gear 16 which is secured to a pinion 18 on shaft 10. Pinion 18 finally engages with a gear 19 which is secured to the reduced lower end 20 of a long vertical shaft 21 which has a central bore which serves as a guide bushing to receive the upper end 7 of shaft which, as shown in Fig. 1, preferably extends for a considerable distance into shaft 21. Thus, the upper end 7 of shaft 5 not only forms a bearing on which shaft 21 may be easily rotated, but it also supports shaft 21 thereon in a vertical position.

The long upper portion of shaft 21 is hollow and serves as a guide for a twisted or screw-shaped driving rod 34 which carries at its upper end a knob 35. This rod 34 is connected with the body 1 of the top by means of a suitable clutch mechanism which is known as such and thercfore not particularly illustrated in the drawings. This clutch mechanism is mounted within the domeshaped portion 3? at the upper end of the bellshaped housing 2. By means of this clutch, a downward pumping stroke or a series of such strokes of driving rod 34 will be converted into a speedy one-way rotary motion of body It. Such motion is then transmitted through frame 11 to gear 12 which thus revolves around the stationary pinion 8. The further gears and pinions 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, and 19 of this reduction gear system then reduce the speed of shaft 21 so that a disk 22 which is mounted near the upper end of shaft 21 in a manner and for a purpose as subsequently described, will be rotated at a speed which is slightly slower than that of housing 1.

The musical unit of the new spinning top includes a pair of fan blades 25 and 26 which preferably consist of transparent material and may be formed of a single sheet or vane of celluloid or the like of an outer contour substantially conforming with that of bellshaped member 2. Vane 25, 26 is mounted on shaft 21, for example, by the simple provision of a pair of holes 36 therein through which shaft 21 is passed. Due to the resiliency and tendency of vane 25, 26 to remain in a straight condition, it will exert a clamping action upon shaft 21 and thus remain securely fixed thereon. A series of inlet openings 27 near the upper end of dome 39 and outlet openings 28 at the lower end of housing 2 near bead 4 permit blades 25 and 26 when rotated by means of shaft 21 to draw a strong current of air in a downward direction through the upper housing 2.

The musical unitfurther consists of a flat disk 24,

preferably of metal, which forms the bottom of the dome-shaped portion 39 of housing 2 and is connected to the inner wall thereof so as to rotate together with and at the same speed as housing 2. Disk 24 contains a plurality of radially extending narrow slots 41, while a corre sponding number of thin spring strips or reeds 42 is mounted on the upper surface of disk 24 near the outer eriphery thereof so that each of these reeds 42 overlies one of slots 41. Reeds 42 closely conform to the size of slots 41 so as to be able to vibrate therein and produce a musical sound, if, by the operation of fan blades 25, 26 an air current in passing downwardly through slots 41 impinges upon reeds 42. Similarly as in a harmonica or mouth organ, reeds 42 may be of different strength so that their vibration will result in different musical tones.

Underneath a closely adjacent disk 24, a second disk 22, as previously mentioned and preferably consisting of non-metallic material, is provided and mounted on the upper end of tubular shaft 21, for example, by means of a key and slot connection 23, so as to be nonrotatable relative to shaft 21 but slidable thereon in axial direction. Disk 22 is provided with several radially extending cutouts 43 which, however, are less in number than slots 41 in disk 24 and of a width considerably larger than slots 41. Thus, the solid portions of disk 22 intermediate cutouts 43 will cover certain slots 41 of disk 24, thereby muting the respective reeds 42 thereon,

while the air current then passes through the uncovered slots 41, that is, those coinciding with cutouts 43, thus vibrating the respective reeds thereon and producing a certain musical sound or a chord of several tones. If disk 22 is then rotated as previously described so that its rotation is slightly slower than that of disk 24, it will progressively cover and uncover other slots and thus produce a recurring succession of musical tones or chords, or even a recurring melody. From this description it will be appreciated that the number of difierent tones in such lff ltil'l'iilg melody will depend upon the number of reeds and slots which are provided in or on disk 24 and upon the ratio of that number to the number and width of the cutouts 4-3 in disk 22.

Finally, the musical unit includes a weak spring 37, one end of which acts upon the lower surface of disk 22, while its other end may either be mounted on shaft 21 or rest upon the upper end of vane 25, 26, as shown in Pig. 1. The pressure of the air current entering through holes 27 depresses disk 22 against the action of spring 37, and the latter thus retains disk 22 in the proper position relative to disk 24 in accordance with the speed of rotation of the top and the pressure of the air current therein.

The domeshaped upper end 39 of housing 2 is preferably opaque so as to hide the interior of the musical unit, and it may either be a continuous part of the transparent housing 2 and be painted or it may form a separate element of opaque material which is secured to the transparent housing 2 at or near the plane of disk 24.

The color unit of the new spinning top consists of a plurality of flat color disks 32 which are rotatably mounted at 44 on the intermediate bottom 33 and provided wit-h gear teeth along their outer periphery. Although any types of colors, color designs, and color arrangements, may be applied to the upper surface of disks 32, I prefer to use the three basic colors blue, red, and yellow and to apply them in three equal sectors to each disk. If these color disks are rotated together at considerable speed, as well as rotated individually relative to each other, the colors on the individual disks will blend together so as to appear as continuously changing circular bands of color, with such circles branching out and returning to the common center in periodically widening and reducing circles.

For producing such slow rotation of the individual disks relative to each other, shaft 9 of the speed reduction gear system also carries a pinion 29 which engages with a gear 30 which is secured to a pinion 31 which is rotatably mounted on the reduced end 20 of shaft 21 and engages the peripheral gear teeth of all the color disks 32 so as to rotate them simultaneously.

The color effects produced by the color disks 32 are considerably enhanced by the rotating transparent housing 2 and its spinning reflection of both the light falling thereon from the outside, as well as from the colors which are partly reflected thereon from disks 32. Instead of making housing 2 clearly and entirely transparent, portions thereof may also be translucent or coated so as to create additional color effects or to reflect the changing colors of disks 32 on parts of the inner wall of housing 2.

Finally, the transparent f-an blade or fan blades 25, 26, which may also be shaped so as to exert the most powerful suction of air through the musical unit, may also be used to contribute to the color effect of the new spinning top, and may therefore itself be given a transparent hue of color or combination of colors.

Although my invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof,I wish to have it understood that it is in no way limited to the details of such embodiments, but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a spinning top, the combination of a base; a shaft fixed in and extending upwardly from said base; a hollow body rotatably mounted on said shaft, and comprising a transparent upper housing and a lower housing; means for rotating said body about said shaft; a plate mounted in said body between said housings; a plurality of color disks rotatably mounted on non-coincident axes on the upper surface of said plate; a gear train carried by said body and connecting said shaft with said disks and adapted to rotate each of said disks in response to rotation of said body about said shaft; a musical wind instrument of the reed type comprising a disk fixed in the upper housing, having a plurality of radial slots, and a plurality of reeds so mounted on the upper surface of said fixed disk that said reeds overlie said slots, respectively, said reeds being adapted to vibrate in said slots to produce a musical sound, said instrument also having a rotatable shaft in said body, passed loosely through said fixed disk and journalled on said fixed shaft, and a fan vane fixedly mounted on said rotatable shaft and adapted to cause a current of air to pass into said body through a series of openings above said fixed disk and be evacuated from said body through a series of openings below said fixed disk, said current. being adapted to vibrate said reeds; and a second gear train carried by said body and connecting said fixed shaft and said rotatable shaft and adapted to rotate said rotatable shaft in response to rotation of said body about said fixed sha t, said second gear train being constructed to drive said vane at a slower speed than the speed of rotation of said body.

2. A spinning top according to claim 1,. having a second disk slidably mounted on and rotatable with said rotatabie shaft immediately below said fixed disk, and having a plurality of radial openings, less in number and Wider than said slots, and adapted to mute successive groups of said reeds, said second disk being biased tosaid fixed disk.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENT 1,004,814 Plaut Oct. 3, 1911 1,053,040 Kent Feb. 11, 1913 1,623,133 Petrie Apr. 5, 1927 2,018,537 Savage Oct. 22, 1935 

